Hollywood Movie Reviews......... |
Hollywood Movie Reviews......... |
Reeth |
Jul 18 2007, 02:54 AM
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#91
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Dedicated Member Group: Members Posts: 2154 Joined: 22-May 06 Member No.: 6151 |
Please review and express your feelings about the Hollywood movies old and new ,that you have watched,liked & would recommend to the other members ......
I start off with an all time favourite film of my entire family....i have lost count of the number of times i have watched this since the time..... The Ten Commandments (1956) It is one of the Greatest movies ever made in the history of World Cinema... The film covers the life of Moses from his discovery in a basket floating on the Nile as a baby by Bithiah, a childless young widow and daughter of the then-Pharaoh, Rameses I, to his eventual departure from Israel in the wake of God's judgment that he not be allowed to enter the Promised Land. In between, the film depicts the early adulthood of Moses as a beloved foster son of Pharaoh Seti I (successor of Rameses I and brother of Bithiah) and general of his armies, his romance with Throne Princess Nefertari and rivalry with the Pharaoh's own son, Prince RamesesII. Critics have argued that considerable liberties were taken with the Biblical story, affecting the film's claim to authenticity, but this has had little effect on its popularity..... Aside from winning the Academy Award for Best Effects, Special Effects, it was also nominated for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color, Best Cinematography, Color, Best Costume Design, Color (Edith Head, Ralph Jester, John Jensen, Dorothy Jeakins and Arnold Friberg), Best Film Editing, Best Picture and Best Sound, Recording Cecil B DeMille’s swan song is a movie for the ages. At 75 the legendary director was at the peak of his fame, his name a house-hold word and his voice recognized by millions. He probably knew The Ten Commandments would be his last film it almost killed him. He certainly knew it would be his most important. Shot in widescreen Technicolor, The Ten Commandments remains the standard by which Biblical epics -- and many epics in general -- are measured When Moses turns his staff into a snake and back again, the effect is seamless. His turning of the Nile into blood is an impressive camera trick, but his parting of the Red Sea is one of Hollywood's most famous stunts. It's worth sitting through the 220 minutes of movie for this alone.... MAIN CAST #Charlton Heston as Moses # Yul Brynner as Pharaoh Rameses II # Anne Baxter as Nefertari # Edward G. Robinson as Dathan # Yvonne De Carlo as Sephora # Debra Paget as Lilia # John Derek as Joshua # Sir Cedric Hardwicke as Pharaoh Seti I But the Ten Commandments isn’t about God alone.... It’s about a woman, Neferteri the beauty of Egypt, and whom she marries will become Pharoe and rule the Earth...she prefers Moses who races chariots and saves old women from being crushed under the monumental obilisk he is raising in honor of Neferteri’s father — and helped by the fact he’s played by manly-man Charlton Heston who looks great,She does not want Ramses, the delicious Yul Brenner who wants Neferteri because of the wealth and power that comes with her. Moses is banished and Neferteri is forced to marry Ramses instead. History might know about Moses and Ramses, but DeMille knew about scorned women..... It remains one of the five most successful films of all time.It is Cecil B. DeMille’s last and arguably greatest film.....Definitely worth watching.... The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind -William James |
Reeth |
Sep 5 2007, 03:42 PM
Post
#92
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Dedicated Member Group: Members Posts: 2154 Joined: 22-May 06 Member No.: 6151 |
Quo Vadis - (1951)
STARRING: Robert Taylor, Deborah Kerr, Leo Genn, Peter Ustinov, Patricia Laffan DIRECTOR: Mervyn LeRoy STUDIO: MGM Studios RATING: NR GENRE: Drama RELEASE DATE: February 23, 1951 Quo vadis is Latin for "Where are you going?".......... Quo Vadis tells of a love that develops between a young Christian woman, Ligia (or Lygia), and Marcus Vinicius, a Roman patrician. It takes place in the city of Rome under the rule of emperor Nero around AD 64..... It's the story of the growing pains of Christianity in a decadent Rome subject to the whims of the mad emperor Nero. The story concerns a Roman general who falls for a Christian slave girl and, later, for her religion, but even though that's what provides the film its focus, the real attraction is the spectacle. The biggest part of that spectacle is Peter Ustinov, who cemented the public's conception of the madman who "fiddled while Rome burned" (actually, in this film it's a lyre, as the fiddle hadn't been invented yet, but no matter) with his over-the-top scenery chewing. He preens and screeches like a spoiled rock star, alternately begging and ordering his subordinates to confess their adoration of him and his god-awful songs. I don't think it necessarily counts as good acting, but it's unforgettable. And miraculously, he's paired onscreen with Leo Genn, who plays court poet Petronius (who wrote Satyricon, which Fellini made into a movie of the same name). Petronius is Nero's opposite in every way: he's quiet while Nero bellows, he's austere while Nero dresses like a clown, and he's subtle while Nero is... not. His job is to manipulate his boss into second-guessing his most obnoxious and horrifying instincts, and he does this with an understated charm. Both actors were nominated for Best Supporting Actor, and while one can't really say they deserved the award more than Karl Malden did, one can only wish they could have made a special award for Ustinov and Genn to share. It's too bad the leads aren't nearly up to the standards those two set. Robert Taylor stumbles his way through the film as Marcus Vinicius, a Roman general who returns from three years on the battlefield to find his home city teetering on the brink of self-destruction, although it takes him a while to realize that. He's helped along his journey to understanding by Lygia (a particularly reptilian-looking Deborah Kerr), a slave who's been adopted into the family of a former general who secretly converted to Christianity, then just a marginal religious cult. At first Marcus tries to bully Lygia into giving in to him, calling in favors from his palace connections (Petronius is his uncle) to get her transferred to his custody. However, he relents when he realizes that she loves her savior, Jesus Christ, more than she does him. There aren't any sparks between Taylor and Kerr, likely because Taylor seems to lack any spark of his own. It makes his gradual conversion from savage soldier to proto-Christian difficult to accept, because he's incapable of showing us the grace that's supposed to be slowly suffusing him. Kerr is easier to accept, but she's weighed down by the banal script (it's no mistake that Writing wasn't among the film's Oscar nominations). Meanwhile, we come to what attracted audiences in the first place....The Spectacle... The water Quo Vadis dives into are excellent for any historical epic: you have persecutions and martyrdoms, the glory of ancient Rome reaching its apex, and a mad emperor who murdered his own mother. As with most historical movies of the time, the acting is geared less toward realism and more toward a hightened feel of D-R-A-M-A and ostentatious monologues, but, compared to many of the historical 'epics' of today, it has a strong emotional core and a passion for its subject. .... The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind -William James |
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